This text brings together for the first time two complete key works from classical antiquity on the politics of Athens: Plato's Menexenus and Pericles' funeral oration (from Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War).

The Focus Philosophical Library publishes clear, faithful editions by renowned scholars and teachers enabling access for modern students to essential ideas and wisdom of the world's greatest thinkers. Two complete key works of classical antiquity on the politics of Athens: Plato's Menexenus and Pericles' funeral oration (from Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War).

The Menexenus, in spite of the dearth of scholarly attention it has traditionally received compared to other Platonic texts, is an important dialogue for any consideration of Plato’s views on political philosophy, history, and rhetoric – to say nothing of the dialogue’s contribution to the study of civic ideology and institutions, natural law theory, and Plato’s notion of race. Speeches for the Dead unites the contributions of scholars working on diverse aspects of the dialogue, growing out of a one-day workshop on the same subject at the University of Pennsylvania organized by the editors. In offering a variety of perspectives on the Menexenus, the volume is the very first of its kind in any language. In addition, the volume contains an up-to-date bibliography of scholarship in English, French, German, and Italian. This makes the book a definitive guide and ideal starting point for advanced students and scholars looking for further information about the dialogue.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Menexenus" by Plato. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

The Menexenus is a Socratic dialogue of Plato, traditionally included in the seventh tetralogy along with the Greater and Lesser Hippias and the Ion and which consists of a lengthy funeral oration, referencing the one given by Pericles in Thucydides' account of the Peloponnesian War.

Plato challenges his readers by depicting an elderly Socrates as an enthusiastic student of rhetoric who has learned from his teacher Aspasia to recite an inspiring funeral oration, an oration that conspicuously refers to events occurring after the deaths of Socrates and Aspasia, an oration that Aspasia, as a woman and a non-Athenian, was not eligible to deliver over the Athenians who died in war. This commentary, the first in English in over 100 years, assists the modern reader in confronting Plato's challenge. The Introduction sets the dialogue in the context of the traditional Athenian funeral oration and of Plato's ongoing critique of contemporary rhetoric. The Commentary, which is well suited to the needs and interests of intermediate students of Classical Greek, provides guidance on grammatical and historical matters, while allowing the student to appreciate Plato's mastery of Greek prose style and critique of democratic ideology.